About San Pedro de Atacama

The Atacama Desert is the driest in the world , lies mainly in the north of Chile, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes to the east. Its origin dates back some three million years . In the Atacama Desert have experienced periods of up to 400 years without rain in its central area . However, the area is affected in January and February by the so-called " plateau winter ", which produces occasional heavy rain and thunderstorms. This area records two world weather records .

The first is that Arica makes the average annual rainfall lowest in the world , representing less than 0.5 mm . The second is that Iquique recorded the longest drought in the world, with 16 years without rainfall.

The Atacama Desert is considered an ideal place for astronomy : the low cloud cover, humidity almost nonexistent and the distant light pollution make the visibility of your night sky is very clear . Because of this, more than a dozen observatories are located in the desert , as Paranal , the most advanced astronomical complex and powerful in the world and ALMA , to date the largest astronomical project in the world and La Silla and others. Chile owns 40 % of the world's astronomical observation .

The people who led and created the popular " Culture San Pedro " were the Atacameños who were in the Loa River and major parts of the vast desert of Atacama. The first settlers arrived in the highlands and streams of northern Chile , specifically to the Atacama Desert . With the arrival of the expedition of Diego de Almagro and Pedro de Valdivia in the mid- sixteenth century, were shown Atacameños a quiet village. The Atacameños were , in this way, the first sedentary of Chile and in turn the first to practice agriculture. They built terraces at the foot of the hills to carry out their crops in this difficult ground, the terraces were artificially watered and fertilized with guano of alpacas and llamas. Thus agriculture became the main source of economic activity in the region highlighting the corn, beans, squash , potatoes and cotton among others.

Another important source of economy was provided by livestock , taking advantage of the meat and wool of alpacas and llamas, while these animals were the main means of transport for the locals, which allowed them to perform "barter" with the people neighbors. His remarkable art was expressed through their weaving, pottery and wood carvings, copper and bronze.

Very similar to other international cultures they believed in life after death , so what the bodies were buried with their goods such as clothing and food . They were believers of the forces of nature. At the site there have been no temples or places of worship. The Atacameños are known internationally for being the most developed pre-Columbian people of Chile.